RogueZ
by 12Frida39
Summary: Rogue Zodiac Celestial Spirits Rose and Diana Jay embark on the most dangerous quest of their entire lives. As of late, there has been a guild of dark celestial wizards threatening the very existence of all Celestial Spirits, and it's up to them and the other 10 Rogue Zodiac signs to eliminate this threat. Will they all make it out alive?
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the characters in Fairy Tail, all rights to those characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

* * *

My name is Rose Jay. I have green eyes and long, light brown hair. I am one year older than my sister, and also slightly taller. My title is Rogue Zodiac Leo. Myself and my eleven other comrades are representatives of the twelve Zodiac Signs. We are Celestial Spirits, that much is certain, yet we differ from our True counterparts in that each of us is trapped within a physical body. Don't jump to conclusions, we are still mortal beings, meaning if we're fatally wounded in battle, we die. Just as with any other Celestial Spirit, when we die, the contract with our Celestial Wizard at the time is broken. This is where things start to get exciting. You see, unlike most Celestial Spirits, we Rogue Zodiacs make Blood Contracts, enabling our contracted wizard to summon us without using a Gate Key. Not that we have Gate Keys anymore, to be quite frank. No thanks to the Celestial Spirit King for that. It's because of this that we can never return to the Celestial World. Our sole connection to the heavens that still remains is our unlimited supply of Celestial Magic Power.

I walk slowly beside my younger, blue-eyed sister, Diana Jay. I can tell she's thinking about something that happened quite some time ago. Knowing her the way I do, it's probably a horrible memory of something I don't want to remember, either. Her long, dark brown hair flows out behind her in the breeze in sync with her equally dark cloak, which fades to a light blue-green about halfway down. Her flared dress pants are the same gradient color, yet her blouse is twilight blue and purple with golden dots that are supposed to be stars. She represents the counterpart of a certain Celestial Zodiac Spirit. Her title is Rogue Zodiac Aquarius. Much like myself, she is partly human, with the ability to use Ice-Make and Water-Make magic, and partly Zodiac Celestial Spirit, which gives her an unlimited supply of Celestial Power.

Sure, our lives may seem like nothing but glory at first, but as of late, even bearing the title of a Rogue Zodiac has proven to be life-threatening. There's a new guild full of Dark Celestial Wizards that has formed whose sole purpose is illegally gathering Celestial Spirits and torturing them. Very few Spirits have made it out of that guild without stopping by the house of Death himself for a little tea party. The Celestial World is trying to retaliate, but the rebellions that have taken place so far have ended with more casualties than soldiers. That's why Diana and I find ourselves here, in Magnolia. Our purpose is to locate and join forces with our brethren so we can eliminate our common enemy. With their help and a few True Zodiacs on our side, we hope to band together with some of the stronger minor Celestial Spirits to put an end to Celestial Blood once and for all. So far, we've met up with all other 10 Rogue Zodiacs, and only 3 True Zodiacs. Within Magnolia alone, we've been to a fair number of guilds, including Raven Tail, Sabertooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and our most recent stop… Phantom Lord. Luckily, we found the RogueZ had banded up in pairs to protect each other. I guess great minds really do think alike.

I heave a sigh of relief and stretch for a long moment, reaching to the sky until my whole body trembles.

"Well, Diana," I laugh happily. "We've finally gone through all the possible guilds in Magnolia. To be honest, though, I hate to be leaving Phantom Lord."

"Aw, you poor thing," Diana teases, giving me a knowing smile. "I knew there was something going on between you and Grant." She pauses and goes back to staring into the void. "I really need to come up with a shipping name for you two."

She has a valid point. Grant Hopper, Rogue Zodiac Cancer, was the only person in the entirety of the Phantom Lord guild that I could trust. I could never really understand why he was such a jerk to almost everyone, but he had the same trust issue with most people that I do. It's for that reason that we were able to get along so well, and eventually, he came up to me and asked me out.

"Just wait until the day you find some hot guy in some popular guild and start falling head-over-heels," I snap, giving her a playful shove.

"Hey, wait! I just remembered," Diana chips in, stopping short in her tracks. "There's one last guild we still need to check through," she adds, gesturing with her thumb behind her to a large building with a very familiar symbol at the center of the structure.

"Right, how could I forget?" I laugh, smiling deviously, a flutter of excitement rising up in my stomach. "Fairy Tail."


	2. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the characters in Fairy Tail, all rights to those characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

* * *

"MAKAROV!"

My voice rings in unison with Diana's as we enter the guild, putting the guild hall into an eerie silence as we make our way towards the master. Everyone steps aside for us, giving us weird looks, but it was all masked by an overpowering wave of fear. I felt a rush of pride at this in spite of myself, and I knew Diana felt the same way. Most of these Fairies know and fear who we are. They must have heard whispers of a new class of wizarding level taking the world by storm.

"How might I help you two girls?" Makarov asks, sitting on the front counter, his staff perched in the crook of his crossed arms.

"We've come to join the guild," Diana says happily, giving him a short wink.

"But first," I interject just as the master waves forward a woman with long white hair from behind the counter. "We need to talk to you. Privately. If that's alright with you."

* * *

By the time we finally start to settle into the guild, people start fearing us less because of our power, but more so because of our skills. Nonetheless, we manage to make a fair number of friends, the most important of all being Loke. He's a very interesting member of the guild, in the sense that he's not human at all. He's a Celestial Spirit. Specifically, my True Zodiac brother, Leo the Lion. What Diana and I can't seem to understand, though, is why he's living in the human world, and how long he's already been here. The last time I talked to him, he had a contract with a rather peculiar Celestial Wizard. His physical presence in the guild alone is really unnerving me. Whatever the case might be, I can't shake this sense of dread that something went horribly wrong between my True kin and his last contracted Celestial Wizard.

I walk over to him and sit on the bar stool next to him, but he refuses to look at me.

"Hey, Loke," I start, leaning forward so I can at least look at his face. "Can I ask you something?"

No answer. I know he heard me, because he visibly curled in on himself a little bit just now. I decide to press on gently, also making sure that I take care not to mention anything about his, Diana's or my own identity. Though I'm fairly certain he already knows us too well.

"I'm curious as to why you joined Fairy Tail alone." I drop my voice to a whisper before continuing. "Last I heard, you had a partner during your time in the Blue Pegasus guild. I wanted to know if you could tell me-."

"What happened to her isn't really that important to you, is it, Rose?" Loke grumbles, standing up and walking away. "Follow me. Bring Diana with you."

His words had been harsh, yet he had a point. I have a feeling he's been waiting for me to ask him about his past, as if he's trying to lift a heavy weight off his shoulders.

"Rose?" Diana asks, looking at me curiously, taking a swift glance at Loke waiting by the front door of the guild. "Are you two going somewhere without me?"

"No, Diana," I whisper, my expression blank as I try reading Loke's eyes for any sign of strong emotions. "The three of us are going to lift a heavy burden from our friend's heart."

"Oh, awesome! I never knew it was that serious," my sister says in awe, falling in step beside me. "I hope getting rid of the weight will fix up that slouch of his. Someday it's going to end up ruining his back."

I can't help but laugh at her statement, and I feel a flare of hope when I notice Loke doing the same.

"I sure hope it does help," he laughs, giving Diana a smile that I can sense is painfully fake, but I'm thankful she doesn't take notice of it. "I really need my back."

We walk out behind the guild to a small beach where we have a quiet place to talk about what happened without a huge risk of being overheard. I can tell that Loke knows who we are and that we know mostly everything about him, but he doesn't show it until we sit down on the sand, a cool wind coming off the water. It's almost like he's reliving the agony of what happened on the day of Karen's death.

"Leo," I say bluntly, flinching a bit when he snaps his horrified, memory-glazed eyes to look into mine. "We both know about Karen and what happened to her."

"We also know why," Diana adds, her own eyes tearing up a little bit. She was a great Celestial Wizard, but one with an attitude worthy of the Celestial Spirit King's books nonetheless. "We're not blaming you for it, either. You did the right thing, sticking up for Aries. What happened to Karen was her fault, and hers alone."

"The King wouldn't listen to us no matter what we told him," I whisper, lowering my gaze to look at my hands, which are reflexively clenching into fists.

Loke looks from me, to Diana, and back again. "You mean you guys tried to defend me? That's impossible, you've been exiled from the Celestial World permanently!"

"Only recently," Diana snaps, slamming her fist into the sand, which made little emphasis to her point. "We still had access during the event of your charges."

"Which brings us to your exile, Leo," I step in, holding his gaze for a moment before he goes back to staring at the sand. "We need to know how long you've been wasting away your Celestial power in the human world."

There's a chilling silence before he finally answers, although it's not at all what I wanted to hear.

"Two and a half."

"Months?" Diana gasps, her eyes widening when he refuses to answer. "You've got to be joking. You can't have been here for two and a half years already!"

"In any case," I interrupt, giving Diana a warning glare before she loses it for something pointless. "We've come to offer help, Leo. We can give you more power, or we could set you up with a Celestial Wizard-."

"No."

Diana, however, has other plans. "Ice-Make Prison!" He's trapped.

"I can't take any power from you two," Loke chokes out, on the verge of breaking down at the thought of his past. "I'm being punished for what I did, and I intend to pay the ultimate price. I've no intention of contracting with another Celestial Wizard for those very reasons. And Rose-," he turns to face me with yet another painfully fake smile, or was it a genuine one? "You're my Rogue kin. I do hope that when my time finally arrives, you will honor my passing."

The realization dawns on me a moment before it happens, and the holographic Loke disappears, leaving myself and Diana alone. The ice cage melts into water and returns to my sister, passing into her body through her hand, returning a small portion of the power she used. I smirk and give her a mocking look of disapproval.

"Show off."


	3. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the characters in Fairy Tail, all rights to those characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

* * *

"Oh, this one seems kind of interesting. What do you think, Rose?" Diana asks, shoving yet another job request in my face. "I know it will get us in close range of C.B., but it's the challenge we're looking for, and the reward is substantial, even when we split it between us!"

My jaw drops. She found a job request that runs the risk of it turning for the worst in two situations; we either die on the job, or we get captured by Celestial Blood and slowly tortured to death under forced Blood Contracts. However, my heart leaps for the heavens when I scan over the locations, and it explodes like fireworks in the New Year when I lock on the reward of 307.5 million jewels.

"So," Diana presses, looking over my shoulder, clearly as excited as I am. "What say you, Cap'n?"

"I say hoist the sails and set course for the middle of the Northern ocean," I whisper, already feeling the salty sea-breeze playing through my hair. "We're bringing home enough giant-sea-serpent hyde to make our own clothing line!"

Both my sister and I use our Wings of Freedom spells and start literally flying out of the guild before we're met in mid-air by Erza blocking our way out, adorned by her Heaven's Wheel armour.

"Hold up you two," she growls, pointing a pair of swords at each of us. "The master needs you to run some errands for the guild. We're a bit short on drinks and food; specifically beer and strawberry shortcake." The last item leaves a bright red blush on her face.

It's been at least a month since we've joined Fairy Tail, and yet we're still doing personal grocery runs for the guild. Being of such high ranking, it's hard for us to find jobs that fit our standards in terms of location, challenge, and reward money. However, it's something that keeps us busy when the job board is lacking and all we can find to do is taking naps in the guild's rafters. Really the only excitement we've gotten since joining the guild is when Diana and I each had our one-on-one battle with Makarov.

 _"You can do it, Rose!"_

 _I can barely hear Diana cheering me on as Master Makarov makes the first move, throwing me an elasticized right hook. I leap into the air, knowing this would have been one of the many moves he could have made. Both Diana and I have this skill. In a one to one battle with an opponent, we can plan out most of the scenarios that could possibly take place during the battle, and based on their first few moves, we can usually determine which spells will end the battle as quickly as possible in our favor. However, the enemy has to make the first move, otherwise it could end very badly for the both of us._

 _With a quick look into the back of my mind, I decide to jump high up into the air, knowing this is probably what the master expects, and when both of his hands fly up to squash me like an insect, the solution that flashes in front of my eyes makes me smile. I've got this fight in the bag already._

 _"Score one for me, Makarov," I shout, taking up my Fire-Make stance in mid-air. "Fire-Make Wolf Claws: Melee Combo!"_

 _Using Fire-Make Wings of Freedom, I propel myself forward, sprinting along the master's arms, jumping from the left to the right as he tries to swat me with the opposite. Every time one of his massive hands approaches, I slash at it with my fiery claws, making him pull back, giving me the time to jump to his other arm. As I rapidly close in on his small frame, I jump into the space between his arms and lash out, sending an X of fire straight at him. The momentum of my body slows down enough from the attack's recoil that I can cast Ice-Make Floor, making Makarov slip back three feet until he falls and slides another four. Everyone is staring at me in awe, still trying to process the fact that their master had just sorely lost this battle._

 _"I must say," Makarov grunts, getting up with the help of Erza, looking at me with a sly smile. "You're not messing around when you boast the capability of analyzing every possible battle situation, depending solely on the first moves of your enemy. You truly are worthy of the rank of Premium Class."_

 _"I should expect you'll take no less precautions during your battle with my sister," I smile back at him knowingly. "In many ways, she is both my equal and my successor."_

 _"I would expect no less from your kin," the master laughs, turning to Diana, of whom is already prepared, standing in her Ice-Make battle stance._

 _My eyes lock on something that I've never seen my sister doing before, although, looking closer, I conclude that it's not voluntary. There's a very fine mist that would be passed over for haze to the normal human eye, but I have an idea what it is. That fine mist must be showing me what Ice-Make spell she's going to cast. I look back to Makarov, and he's contemplating how to begin this fight. Time seems to slow down during the time that he's just standing there, thinking intensely. I close my eyes for a quick moment, trying to reach Diana. I can see the countless scenarios she's counting off a mile a minute, and I notice she keeps coming back to one in particular. Opening my eyes again, I look back to the master. His stance suggests that he's going to use some sort of compressed magic attack. I go back to Diana's thoughts and I'm thankful that she's noticed this as well. Her battle plan is already set, and I smile in relief. I know I really shouldn't be invading her thoughts, but I can't help it. I only have one sister, and if I lose her, that's the end of everything. Finally, Makarov makes his first move, and I'm momentarily horrified. For some reason or another, he uses a compressed electric attack. I snap my attention to Diana, and the haze that was present earlier has dissipated, and she creates a clone of herself then flies into the air using Ice-Make Wings of Freedom. I notice a slight rainbow-like outline around her and I suspect that the mist is once again surrounding her. The rainbowy shadow forms into the outline of Diana's next spell, and I find relief once again. It turns out my eyes hadn't deceived me earlier, and that the mist is a tell-tale for her attacks._

 _"Ice-Make Cannon!"_

 _Predictably, Makarov catches the ball of ice with his massive hands, but I never expected him to launch it back at her with the speed and scary accuracy of a professional baseball pitcher. I barely have enough time to scream at Diana to fly out of the ice ball's path when I see the unspeakable happen. In her hands, to my complete shock, a white, white-hot, flaming baseball bat is rapidly forming. As effortlessly as though she were figure-skating on ice, she turns on her heel in a full 360, setting fire to the ball of ice as soon as it hits the fiery bat and sending it flying straight for Makarov twice as fast. Soon after being ignited, the flames disappear, but only Diana and I know where they've gone off to. Once again, the master moves to catch it, this time with one hand, but the moment he touches it, the impact causes the compressed fire within to the ball shatter the ice, making it explode into millions of shards. The force of the blast pushes Master Makarov back a whopping ten feet, leaving a gaping crater where he'd previously been standing. The jaws that had dropped earlier for my battle once again hit the dirt in awe of my younger sister. Although she basks in the shock of the crowd, the tears in her eyes tell me that last spell had done a real number on her hands. Rushing over to her, I reach her just in time, urging her to coat her hands in ice to soothe the pain. It takes her a while to calm her sobbing, but she gathers her courage and dares a glance at her seared hands. Her immediate reaction is panic, but I quickly cover her eyes and tell her to breathe deeply, calm down, and tell her more firmly to coat her hands in a layer of ice. She complies after taking a moment to regain her composure, and Master Makarov comes up to us with Mirajane - the girl in the red dress with the long white hair from earlier - at his side._

 _"You two are truly worthy of establishing the ranks of Premium Class wizards," the master grumbles as Mirajane gives us our official guild stamps which have a metallic shimmer, setting us apart from our guild-mates._

 _"That's great, thank you," I say warmly to the baker, handing Diana some of the packages to carry. "I'll be sure to pass on your regards to Erza."_

We walk outside, talking about how we're going to handle our job, especially in terms of how we're going to avoid catching Celestial Blood's attention, when I overhear some guys talking quietly to themselves. Instinctively, without saying a word between the two of us, Diana and I immediately stop talking and listen to what they have to say.

"Did you hear about the new wizard in town?" one of them whispers excitedly to his other two pals. "I hear he uses some kind of fire magic."

"Yeah, I've heard about him alright," groans the tallest of the three, his windblown style black and blue hair sweeping down to cover one of his brown eyes. "My girlfriend's gone crazy for him. I don't know what it is about him, but I'm getting a bad vibe."

"Don't worry, Josh," the third reassures his pal, giving him a pat on the back. "I'm sure she'll come running right back to you. After all, what kind of girl in their right mind would want to date a guy whose name is Salamander?"

By this time, I've heard my fill, and I place a hand on Diana's back, directing us away from them, starting on our way back to the guild.

"Come on, sis," I say firmly, keeping my eyes locked on the Fairy Tail symbol above the guild's front doors, clearly visible from town. "We've got some news to bring back to Natsu."

Out of nowhere, a girl with a fairly noticeable bust, medium length blonde hair, and brown eyes bumps into Diana, nearly making her drop the entire load of packages she was carrying on the ground. A moment later, the girl turns on her heel and apologizes profusely.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," she laughs nervously, rubbing the back of her neck, then she smiles and winks at us. "I'm Lucy, by the way. Nice to meet you."

I give her a quick look, taking in her appearance. She's wearing a white sleeveless shirt that has a deep blue trim and a cute little collar that folds out in the same style as a tuxedo jacket. Her skirt is the same shade of blue as the trim on her shirt, although it seems a tad bit too short. Then again, I guess that's why they're called "miniskirts". She's also wearing a brown belt with a long, black whip that has a spade on the end of it, making it look more like a demon tail. The last thing that catches my eye makes my heart stop, and not exactly in the best way, either. On the opposite side of her belt as the whip hangs a small light brown pouch that looks somewhat like a cellphone case, but it's what can be seen inside it that really scares me; Gate Keys. I can sense that Diana noticed them as well, because one of her fingers starts drumming impatiently against the boxes she's holding. I really need to find some way to fix that, or at least have her show her anxiety in a much less obvious manner.

"I'm Rose Jay, and this is my younger sister, Diana Jay," I reply, gesturing towards her with my head. "We'd shake your hand, but these boxes aren't exactly full of feathers."

I'm telling the truth when I say that, but in reality, it's not the main reason why I'm trying to avoid any further physical connection with ourselves and this girl, Lucy. The Gate Keys she possesses, even though there are a few gold Zodiac Keys among them, means there's a very high chance she could be a member of Celestial Blood. Though something about her overall personality - or what I've seen of it so far- tells me otherwise, Diana and I learned not to let our guard down around any Celestial Wizards the hard way, and our lives almost paid for that horrible mistake.

"Anyway, we'd love to stay and chat," my sister lies, though she hides it surprisingly well. "We really should get going. These gifts won't deliver themselves."

"Ah, yes. If only they could deliver themselves, then we'd have more time to take-."

"Our grandmother with us on our travels."

I'm thankful Diana interrupts, because I'd just let my guard down without even consciously realizing it. Even during a conversation with any of our closest friends I wouldn't have been so careless. My suspicions of Lucy being in alliance with our enemy are completely overthrown; it just doesn't seem to fit. When my thoughts snap back to reality, I find Lucy and Diana deep in conversation about traveling and their curiosity about the various traditions of the world. My sister looks so happy. Possibly the happiest she's ever been since our first and most dangerous incident with the guild of dark Celestial Wizards. We nearly lost our lives when we were forced to fight each other to the death. I remember looking down on her as she lay curled in on herself in a pool of her own blood, the life rapidly draining from her as I hesitated to deliver the final blow. Had it not been for a mysterious stranger breaking into the guild and getting us out of there, I would have been forced to kill Diana or watch those pitiful excuses for Celestial Wizards let her bleed to death from the comfortable view of a noose specifically hung from the ceiling for me.

"Well, I hope we meet each other again sometime," Lucy calls with a smile when I nudge Diana, letting her know we have to get going. "It was nice meeting you two!"

"Likewise," I shout back, giving her a two-finger soldier salute, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Are you going to tell Gramps about her?" Diana queries when we reach the front door of the guild.

"Oh I'm going to do more than just tell him about her," I whisper with a smile, knowing that Lucy could be an extremely helpful ally towards our cause somewhere down the road. "I'm going to have him send out someone to recruit her."

* * *

"I swear that pink-haired idiot heard nothing of what I said about Lucy," I growl, hanging over the starboard side of our personalized 420, my arms crossed in front of my chest in frustration, making me look like a temperamental child. "Another four degrees to port, Diana."

The moon is hanging high in the sky, partnered by the thousands of stars that shine brightly. Other sailors might consider us crazy for hitting the water in the dead of the night, but even being Rogue Zodiacs, we have the guidance of the stars to keep our course true.

"Check that, Cap'n," Diana replies happily, adjusting the tiller and sails accordingly. "I'm sure that Natsu heard you, he just probably didn't register it, is all," she tries to reassure me, but she knows as well as I do that Natsu took off the moment he heard Salamander and fire magic user in the same sentence.

There's a long silence where neither of us speak, save for notifying the other of a course adjustment. With my sister as crew, she can call up a vicious current around our boat to give us a massive speed boost.

"How fast you reckon we're going, Diana?" I shout over the howling wind in my ears.

"I'm betting about 13 knots," she calls out, lying back out on trap, tucking her hands behind her head and closing her eyes, making it look like she's relaxing in a lawn chair.

While she chills out, I turn my eyes to the sky. I don't even remember much of what happened between when I saw it and when I found myself kneeling right over the turtle bag, Diana having fallen overboard in the midst of my daze, watching the tail of stardust disappear behind the heads of a herd of enormous-.

"SEA SERPENTS, DEAD AHEAD!"

By this time, Diana has gotten in through the back of the 420 and is at the helm, veering us violently to port. We just barely avoid a head-on collision with the jaws of one of the hundreds of scaly sea creatures with piercingly cold, beady black eyes. In the turmoil of the ocean, I hear a voice calling out to me. The very same voice I'd heard in the back of my head when I watched the shooting star streaking across the sky not even a minute ago. I recognize it now; Rogue Zodiac Virgo.

"Rose, Diana," he screams, and I see him trapped in the bloodthirsty jaws of a towering serpent hundreds of feet above us. "Help me! Please, you have to hurry, I don't have much ti-aaaargh!" The beast holding him clamps its jaws down harder onto his waist, causing him to go into a fit of agonized screaming.

"Marcus!" I cry out, flying up using Wings of Freedom, Diana at my side. She rapidly fills the serpent's mouth with water, making it open up to spit it and Marcus out, and I lift our friend out of danger. Diana flies down and derigs our boat, then returns to take Marcus down to safety, afterwards flying back up to assist me in fighting the horde of scale-hided snakes.

"Can you do anything about the water around them?" I ask, drying the eyes of a particularly large serpent. "Like, part it, freeze it, something like that?"

"I can," Diana mutters sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck, looking almost pleadingly at me. "But it's going to take more power than I can spare on my own."

I grin at her comprehensively, and as though our thoughts were interconnected, we "fold" our Wings of Freedom spells and dive down into the water like a pair of fish. When we reach the bottom, Diana's grip on my hand tightens a little bit. If she lets go of my hand, the water pressure will crush my lungs, I'll run out of air, and I will most certainly die. It's because she's the Celestial Kin of Aquarius that she can remain underwater for much longer periods of time, as well as much greater depths than a mortal. When we reach the sea floor, we both cast an Ice-Make spell and push off hard, using the ice structure that's forming around the serpents to help propel ourselves back up to the surface. As we break through the surface of the water, we "unfold" our Wings of Freedom spells and break off on our own to fight off the various remaining serpents.

"Rose, look out!" Marcus calls, sending a blinding flash of golden light at something directly behind me.

"Mistaking me for the enemy is one thing, but outright attacking me is just wrong," shouts an achingly familiar voice down at Marcus, making him hang his head in embarrassment.

My heart stops dead when I recognize the voice, and I have to fight the overwhelming urge to scream in delight as my eyes lock on Grant Hopper smiling warmly at me.

"Well, well," he purrs, sighing in recognition and relief. "If it isn't my little Rogue Rose."

"GRANT!" I cry, hugging him tightly, not even caring that he's standing on top of the head of one of the creatures I'm supposed to be killing to earn money. "What are you doing here?" I add, subconsciously using a Fire-Make spell to take care of three overly confidant serpents trying to sneak up behind me.

"Well, I went to try finding you, and I was lead to Fairy Tail," he admits, looking at his feet, clearly not wanting to be overheard. "Then the old man told me you were out on a job in the middle of the Northern ocean."

He's just looking up at me, opening his mouth to say something, when we're interrupted by Diana's agonizing screech. I whip my head in her direction in pure horror. I'm momentarily confused when I see my sister flying in mid-air, holding one of her hands very close to her. Oh great. She tried using a Fire-Make spell again. I rush over to her and pull out a roll of gauze from my back pocket. It's soaked all the way through with salt water from our earlier dive into the water, but it's of much more use to me now than it would be if it were dry. I thoroughly wrap her hand, using all of the gauze just as a precaution, then I take her hand and I seal it in a thick coating of ice. This will keep the water that was absorbed into the bandage wrap cold, but still leave it as a liquid so the salt in the water can disinfect the burn. The sound of fighting coming from behind me reaches my ears and I turn to see Grant finishing off the last of the serpents. Diana and I fly down to our 420, checking to make sure that Marcus is okay, then we start rigging up again. Grant joins us on our return trip, and just when we think everything's going fine, Diana's wails of distress snap me out of my thoughts.

"MARCUS, NO!"


	4. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the characters in Fairy Tail, all rights to those characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

* * *

It's been about a week since our friend Marcus, Rogue Zodiac Virgo, went back to his own guild, Lamia Scale. When we'd returned from our job that day, the doctor we had taken him to had told us there was a relatively slim chance that he would survive. In the end, he pulled through without too much trouble. Nonetheless, what matters is that he's alive, which will no doubt please his friend Adam, Rogue Zodiac Taurus. It seems to me that no matter where Diana and I go, no matter what we do, and no matter how extreme our adventures, I always find spare time to worry about how all the other RogueZ are holding up.

"Hello, Earth to Rose," snaps Cana Alberona, the guild's only woman able to hold the tons of liquor she downs in one afternoon alone. She's waving a mug of booze in my face to get my attention. "You sure you're feeling okay? You look like you're worried about something," she perceives, sitting down next to me as I grunt in a half-assed reply and continue to stare off in no particular direction.

"Or maybe someone," snickers the hushed obnoxious voice of Natsu's blue-furred and white-winged feline companion, Happy.

With the lightning-quick reflexes I'd learned - with Diana's "assistance", of sorts - I snap my right forearm up, my hand clenched in a tight fist. I find oddly calming satisfaction when it connects with that annoyingly whiskered mug, sending him flying across the guild. Pun intended. He hits the job board with a faint and dull thud.

"Watch it, Rose!" Natsu shouts over at me. "Happy's-."

"Your friend and not my punching bag, I know," I groan, standing from my seat and turning to face him. "And the sooner he quits getting on my nerves, maybe, JUST MAYBE, I'll consider upgrading his status to Paper Airplane."

Before I sit down again, I notice that he's got a flyer for someone's yacht party. He rolls up the parchment before I can read the host's name and stuffs it in a pocket on the inside of his vest. Next thing I know, he's racing to the main entrance.

"C'mon, Happy. I think I finally got a solid lead this time!" he shouts, excitement filling his voice as he leaves the guild, his flying companion in tow.

With that the guild falls into a hush that has me wondering just what he's searching for so desperately.

"He really is dead set on finding him, isn't he?" Makau sighs, taking another swig of his drink, sitting back in the booth of his table.

"What do you mean? Like he's searching for someone?" Diana asks, her expression full of confusion.

"More so something," Erza replies, leaning against the bar counter beside my sister. "He's looking for the Fire dragon, Igneel. He was the one who raised Natsu as a young boy and taught him the art of Fire Dragon Slayer magic. Then suddenly, without any explanation or even so much as a word of why or where he was going, Igneel left, and was never seen again."

"That's so sad," Diana whispers, lowering her head until her hair covers her eyes. "Having someone who's taken on the role of a parental figure in your life just leave without a trace-."

"Quit your whining, Diana," I snap warningly, but even I give way to her sullen mood. "He's pretty lucky when you think about it. Some kids grow up without any parents at all."

Yeah. If you got the hint, Diana and I grew up without any form of parenthood. Well, at least up to when Diana turned twelve. That's as far back as either of us can recall our lives. It's sad and unfortunate, but it's the truth. Still, through the good and the bad, we made it here, and we have no intention of ever going back to those days.

"Although it is sad," Gray interrupts, sitting down next to me, unaware that his stripping habit has kicked in again. "Some of us believe it's his way of keeping his mind from realizing the inevitable truth."

The mood in the guild is bleak, especially since Natsu left earlier this morning, which means nobody's game enough for a casual brawl. I fly up into the rafters, where a now peacefully sleeping Diana had retreated immediately after Erza, Gray, and Cana began recounting their renditions of what they knew about Natsu's past. My decision not to follow her had been deliberate, and when I tip-toe silently past her, I confirm that it had been a wise one. Her knuckles are a little swollen, though thankfully not bleeding, and the post where her head is resting is dented. Not cracked, splintered, or even broken, just… Dented. I sit down, leaning against the post opposite her on the same beam and manage to drift into a sound sleep myself within minutes. When I wake, I can hear Natsu's destruction quite clearly and look out one of the skylights, spotting him almost immediately, with Happy and pleasant a surprise in tow. I leap from one beam to the other, my heart fluttering with excitement as I gently wake my younger sister.

"Diana, you're not going to believe this," I whisper fanatically, trying to contain myself. "Natsu's back!"

"So? Since when did you start caring about that flame-brain?" she groans, getting up slowly and walking along the rafters in the direction of the bar, but I remain standing where she had left me at her napping location, feeling slightly hurt.

"Then I take it you don't care he's in the company of a Celestial Wizard?" I growl at her, turning to go look through the skylight again. "Or that she has three Zodiac Keys-."

I stop myself there, having sensed the change before she flew at me, lunging for my throat with Ice-Make Beam Claws. I feel like the world's biggest idiot of a sister right now. I know I should have done better to remind myself this could set her off. The two of us were attacked two years ago by a pair of Celestial Wizards claiming to be members of Celestial Blood. There had come a point where, if it weren't for Diana going on an animalistic rage quit, my head would be on their guild master's staff for eternity. The blind terror and rage in her eyes says it all; there's no hope of talking my way out of this one, yet for some outrageously insane reason-.

"Diana, snap out of it!"

I try it anyway.

Arming myself with Fire-Make Wolf Claws, I duck, dodge, twirl and leap from one beam to another. Anything to avoid that ripping aura of ice-cold fury. Diana lunges at me for the umpteenth time, and I once again evade, but this time, my footing is a bit off, which throws my balance enough for me to meet my end in this very short battle. My sister, who had clung to a post to my left with that same animalistic as two years ago, now surges forward, slamming into my right side. It's more than enough to throw my footing entirely, and time seems to falter as gravity takes over. My first mistake had been waking her in the first place. The next had been putting Celestial Wizard and Zodiac Keys in the same sentence. Looking into Diana's eyes now, I'm distracted by a certain hint of some new color in her irises, forgetting that the gap between myself and the hardwood floor is rapidly shrinking. It's almost as though she's about awaken something within herself. At the last second, Leo takes up the role of the "hero", hops in and separates us, which apparently calms my sister enough to return her to a state of normalcy.

"Careful there," he purrs, setting her down on her feet and smiling charmingly at her. "You could've really hurt yourself there."

"Y-Yeah," Diana stutters, her wide blue eyes staring blankly at the floor while she holds herself, most likely wondering what the hell just happened. "Thanks, Loke…"

"Uh-huh," I growl, standing up and grabbing hold of a small table nearby. "Thanks for your concern, the both of you-." I lift it up, bringing it over my head-. "I really-." And launch it straight at them. "APPRECIATE IT!"

Loke puts an arm around Diana's shoulders and they both duck in just the precise moment to send the small table soaring through the air. The guild doors then slam open, and the table makes a direct bull's eye into Natsu's face, of whom immediately assumes Gray threw it at him. I'm lost in the glorious roar of the guild as an all out battle ensues. Everyone who's been waiting for this kind of excitement joins in, but right when the fun is truly about to get started, the Master gets pissed off about all the ruckus and wreckage, and stops us all, crushing my happiness in the process. While the old man is blabbering on, I remember that I'd promised to meet up with Jarrett in town sometime this week. Well, now seems like as good a time as any. I whisper to Diana that I'm heading out to Phantom Lord, and she smiles at me knowingly.

"I don't want to have to be holding your hand in the hospital nine months from now, 'kay Rose?" my sister teases, nudging my side with her elbow.

"Relax, Diana. We're taking it slow for now," I reassure her, giving her hair a playful ruffle. "Although, I can't exactly say the same will be happening with you and the hungry Lion over there," I add with a slight nod in Loke's direction, who's daydreamy smile vanishes as he blushes and swiftly looks away.

Before she can protest, I quickly leave, slipping through the guild's open doors completely unnoticed. Once outside, I take a deep breath and stretch up into the sky, relaxing my muscles that had been ready for a fight only to be disappointed.

"I was starting to think you'd never show."

* * *

"Grant, come on," I plead, stumbling blindly as he guides me to the location of what he claims will be a fun job just for the two of us. "Can you at least tell me how far we are from Fairy Tail?"

"No can do, Rose," he replies, laughing a little as he whispers in my ear. "Besides, we're almost there."

Keeping to his word, within a minute or two, we stop and he removes the pitch-black blindfold he'd tied over my eyes. It takes all I have not to break down right then and there. We stand at the outskirts of the one town I'd hoped to never have to visit again. It's the remains of the town of which Diana had unwillingly and unknowingly destroyed three quarters. Millions of innocent lives were lost that day… 3 days after her 12th birthday… The day she had her first power overload.

"Rose, are you alright?" Grant asks frantically as I fall to my knees, tears silently flowing down my cheeks. "Rose, answer me, please!"

"I never thought I'd ever see this place again," I sob, choking out the words as though even saying it will make me break down completely. "I shouldn't be here. They know who Diana and I are… We were the cause of this disaster."

"Then why would the town's mayor come to me personally and ask specifically for you? This isn't a coincidence or a fluke; they need you for something."

I take a minute of two to calm down, then we proceed into the town. The further we press into the rubble, the more uneasy I feel inside and out, and I press into Grant's shoulder, holding his arm tightly like a frightened child. My greatest fear is that there are some people whose family members died when their town was very nearly annihilated that hold a grudge against myself and Diana. I'm grateful that nobody lashes out, which means we reach the newly rebuilt town hall without a hitch. Once we step inside the beautiful oak door - the only obvious, let alone visible entrance and exit point - the mayor is waiting for us with a welcoming grin.

"Rose Jay, it's been too long since you and I last talked," the mayor sighs warmly, giving me a friendly hug and choosing a firm shake of the hand with Grant. "I still can't thank you enough for your help three years ago. None of us would be alive if it weren't for you and your sister, Diana. I owe the life of my niece, Raven, to your sheer bravery."

On cue, a small girl, of whom I'm informed is no older than 9, appears from behind the secretary's desk, walking timidly up to her father and half hiding behind his form. Her midnight-black hair stretches down to her waist in a simple braid, and her golden hazel eyes suddenly fill with recognition and nostalgia. She races over to me, her arms open wide in a hug. She's wearing a calming, deep purple skirt with a thin gold trim at the bottom, and her blouse is a soft shade of red-orange. The item that catches not only my eye, but also my breath, is the electric blue scarf wrapped around her neck. It reminds me of a specific person whose scarf is his most recognizable feature. Joshua Star. The mythical 13th Rogue Zodiac, so he calls himself. I'm shoved back into reality as a pair of short arms try to wrap themselves around me. I find myself looking into the face of a child who's looking at me like I'm her favourite celebrity.

"I remember you," Raven chirps, her innocent eyes glittering with gratitude and admiration. "You rescued me from my friend's burning apartment. The flames were all at your mercy, and they kept that horrible beast from attacking you!"

My chest has tightened with so much emotion that my breathing has become alarmingly shallow and uneven. I always vow to myself to become less susceptible to such emotional bombings, yet I can't seem to figure out why I just crumble like this. Grant holds me against him, and I cling to his jacket, feeling my body start to quiver.

"But, Falkner," I sob, trying desperately to stop my voice from trembling. "Three quarters of your town was destroyed because of my sister."

"I realize that," Falkner says calmly, putting a hand on my shoulder and motioning with his head for me to follow him outside. "But your sister was the one who saved us from that terrible creature, and you helped us all by getting my people out of harm's way. It's because of this that we requested your assistance in rebuilding our town."

I know exactly what he means, and I find that all the emotion I had felt before has suddenly dissipated, and in its place is this feeling of having a much more firm patch of ground beneath my feet. I straighten up and scan over the scaffolding that has been erected throughout the destroyed parts of the town. Now I see not a stubborn population that has chosen to live in seclusion, dangerously close to an enemy of the past, but a people that thrives upon the very essence of determination. They refuse to flee the one place they call home, if only to remind themselves that hope will be ever watchful over them forevermore. Turning to face Grant, I smile happily, giving him a nod, which he returns in kind. He walks with Falkner to one of the groups of workers that needs help getting their generator working again, leaving me to follow after Raven. She takes me to where her house had once stood, and we're greeted by her immediate family and their friends. I'm given the blueprints for the structure they'd like to build, and directed to a massive pile of scrap metal that was salvaged from the rubble. So far as I know, the only job I have for the moment is being their blacksmith.

"Alright, I want to make myself clear," I declare, taking the welding helmet handed to me by Raven's father. "Absolutely nobody is to come within seven feet of me when I'm working the metal. When I call for someone to take a finished piece, I will accompany them to where it is to be placed and weld it into position. The previous rules will also apply in this case. Is everyone clear on this?"

I get confirmation from everyone around me, and I put on the welding helmet, walking with confidence towards the towering pile of scrap metal.

"Then let's turn up the heat!"


	5. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the characters in Fairy Tail, all rights to those characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

* * *

As the sun slowly descended in the sky, the guild members departing to their respective residences, Diana and I sat at the bar while I told her about what Grant and I had been doing for the majority of the day. Just as I suspected, she averts my gaze the whole time, but I know she's still listening. Like myself, she still worries about the people we saved on that horrible day, secretly wishing that no harm would ever befall them again. Both of us know that wish can never be entirely realized, but we never expected that our own history would come back to bite us even harder, either. Nonetheless, nothing could have prepared us for the horrors that would one day cut a rift through the Rogue Zodiacs so deep it could turn us against one another.

I'm about to try cheering up my little sister by telling her a funny joke, but I'm cut short when the guild doors slam open. I feel my heart stop for an amount of time that seems almost inhuman, a wave of panic sweeping in with the new arrivals. They run up to us, and I have trouble recalling them as their faces come into a clear view.

"Gemini?" Diana asks, tilting her head to one side. "What are you two doing here?"

"Joshua reported that Celestial Blood has a lead on the outing you two made in the Northern Sea," Zoey pants, her hands braced on her knees as her breath comes in rapid gasps.

"The guild master's sent his demon to fetch the both of you," Kaylein finishes, sounding as equally out of breath as her twin. "And we need to get to it before it gets here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I interject, putting a hand on Kaylein's shoulder. "Back the truck up here for a second. You mean to say that Diana and I need to fight that-." I stop and cringe as I feel a shudder run up my spine. "Creature together?"

"Not just fight it," Kaylein corrects, looking to her twin as a spark of comprehension passes between myself and my sister. "Kill it."

She's barely said the last half of her sentence before my fiery wings are spread and I'm flying out the guild's front doors. Diana is hard on my heels, her wings of ice matching the speed of my own.

"Well, then what the hell are we waiting for?" I shout back at Zoey and Kaylein, squatting down to give one of them a lift and motioning for Diana to do the same. "Let's go kick some dragon-harpy ass!"

Zoey hops onto my back, and Kaylein reluctantly rides with Diana, and within moments, we're flying out into the darkening sky, totally unaware just how ill prepared we are to face the enemy that hunts us. By the time we've reached the same location where Diana and I took our first job since joining Fairy Tail, the sky is littered with stars, and the moon is nowhere to be seen.

"I don't like the feeling I'm getting from the guild, Rose," Diana whimpers, her fear evident in her voice and her eyes as she looks to me for reassurance. "It's quiet-."

"If you finish that sentence, I'm disowning you when they capture all four of us and torture us to death."

That earns me a slap upside the head from Zoey and a haughty hiss in the ear.

"That's three of us," she corrects, reminding me that she and Kaylein together are Rogue Zodiac Gemini. "Get your math straight."

My mouth opens to snap back a retort, but something flashes in my peripheral vision and I silence the group. I try to prepare my Wolf Claws, but whatever it is that I saw just now is much faster than I'd anticipated. It bodyslams me full force, and my Wings of Freedom spell breaks, sending me falling towards the rippling black surface of the ocean water. Zoey's weight is lifted from my body and I know that she's merged with Kaylein once again, releasing the burden of her life from my shoulders. Literally.

I make no sound as I plunge into the freezing cold salt water, the muscles in my body already seizing up. The creature that I had thought to be dead three years ago plunges in after me, forcing me down, down, down. Its inhuman black eyes glare at me with rage, making its natural composition seem very conflicting. Had this thing truly been human at one point before it became such a horrible abomination of life? I find that very hard to believe.

My chest suddenly throbs with the fierce desire to take in a fresh breath of air, and the water's steadily increasing pressure. I can't find the strength to force the dragon-harpy off me, let alone did it even occur to me that my life is about to be crushed out of me in a matter of seconds.

Without warning, the beast's grasp on me is forcibly lifted, and the crushing weight on my chest subsides when a firm hand grabs mine.

Diana.

Once I surface from the water with my sister and the creature, my fists immediately connect with its ugly mug. If there's one thing I'll never turn down, it's a classic fist-fight. I can hear shouting from somewhere nearby, and I recognize Zoey and Kaylein's voices calling urgently for us to get out of the water, but I can't stop myself. The satisfaction of hearing my knuckles collide repeatedly with my opponent's face is much too great. However, I find my senses when more urgent voices reach my ears. These ones I can't recognize at all, and my heart begins to race. Pausing to look around, I notice that the home turf of our very enemy looms before me, and there are dozens upon dozens of its members flooding out of its front doors. At the center of this crowd stands their temporary guild master. He's smiling at me with the purest contempt I've ever witnessed from someone without a metaphorical heart. Within the ranks of the guild members, I can recognize some minor Celestial Spirits, and I see their faces brighten up when their eyes set on me.

Without even realizing it, my Wings of Freedom spell seems to almost cast itself into existence, its fire blazing white with the surge of my fury. I raise myself out of the water and clench my fists until my knuckles turn white. I can hear Diana shouting at me, but I refuse to listen. I'm lost in my rage.

"So, I take it you're in charge of Celestial Blood while your current guild master is out on a job," I shout at him, my downturned mood easily reaching his ears. "Or am I just going crazy like the rest of your guild, Eric Dagenais?"

I spit out his name as though it were a deadly poison, earning cries of repent from the gathered members of the guild and hushed snickers of amusement from fellow Celestial Spirits. Eric simply smiles at me, his dirty-blonde hair falling neatly over one side of his face and his one visible brown eye glinting with satisfaction.

"Well, Miss Jay," he calls to me across the water, ignoring my question. "I must admit that I'm impressed by the fine young woman you're becoming."

"You shut your mouth, you fucking pervert!" Diana shrieks, making to charge for him, but a wall of white flame blocks her path and she stops. "You take that back, or I'll rip you to shreds, you piece of trash."

"No sister of mine will ever be caught in the act of something so entertaining," I growl warningly, unable to restrain the smile on my lips. "At least not without me."

"My my, this is quite a show, but I'm afraid we're going to have to cut the scene," Eric laughs, flashing us with a smile that radiates evil in its purest form. "I believe the director has called for a change in the cast!"

The entire thing happens within such a short period of time that I'm literally left with my jaw gaping in sheer horror. I catch a split second glimpse of Diana before Eric's lackey comes flying at her from behind, a small dagger driving easily into her left shoulder. The creature's momentum is far greater than any resistance my sister is able to summon forward, and the two crash through the front wall of Celestial Blood. I remain where I am, my Wings holding me suspended right above the ocean water. I wait with growing fear and impatience for Diana to emerge in triumph and screech out a battle cry of rage. Nothing happens. Two sets of hands grab my arms and I feel frozen in time for a moment while my arch nemesis raises a fist in victory and files into the guild with the rest of those putrid Dark Celestial Wizards. Then it all disappears, and I'm taken away from that place of nightmares, having been forced to leave my only remaining family member behind. The next view that appears before my eyes is the inside of a guild I now know almost too well. The pair of hands that had once been firmly grasping my arms release me, and I look around the guild for the one other face I know.

"Gemini, you're back-."

I turn just as the familiar voice speaks and I'm filled with joy and a flare of hope.

"Grant, I need you," I beg, almost toppling him over, unaware that tears are streaming down my face. "They've got her. I don't know how much longer she has until they start torturing her for information, but we've got to go back there now-!"

"Rose, slow down," he manages to say, cutting off my mile-a-minute explanation. "Take a deep breath and calm down, then tell me that again, but a whole lot slower this time."

"Celestial Blood has Diana, and I doubt it'll be long before they start coming after the rest of us," I whisper, knowing most of the other guild members are too distracted with their own troubles to bother listening in. "I need you to help me rescue her."

I grab his hand and start walking out of the guild.

"Now."

* * *

From the outside, the guild seems fairly quiet, at least at first glance. The only real activity that we can see from our viewpoint a couple of miles off is the steady repair being done on the massive gap in the guild's wall. I check the watch on my left wrist and groan impatiently as it displays 206 a.m. Grant puts a reassuring arm around my shoulder, making his best attempt to calm me down.

"Just be patient, Babe," he whispers soothingly in my ear, holding my chin as he turns my to face him, kissing me softly on the lips for a good long moment. "We can go in and get her as soon as Gajeel comes back."

"If that iron-headed jackass isn't back by 2:15," I growl quietly, my hands clenching into fists. "I'm going in there and getting her myself. If you want to join me, it's your choice, not mine."

A silence falls between us that gets even more tense with each passing minute, without even the slightest trace of Gajeel Redfox. He's a very strong member of Phantom Lord, and with good reason, too. Like Natsu, he's a Dragon Slayer. Although instead of fire, he uses Iron Dragon Slayer magic. His life story also follows the same basic storyline, wherein the dragon that raised him, sharing the same fate as Natsu's parental dragon, upped and left without a word. Not that I care about either of those two idiots, anyway. One is just as equally stupid, simple-minded, and thick-headed as the other.

Looking at my watch once more after what feels like eons, I get up the moment I see the numbers two, one, and five. I don't even get the chance to stretch before Grant pulls me back down to ground level. There's a curtain of alertness clouding his eyes as he points to a shadow moving rapidly towards us along the shoreline, and I groan with clear resentment, knowing all too well who it is. The unnecessarily long, black hair, the red eyes that can radiate the most fearsome hatred, the unmistakable air about him that says, 'I have power, and I'm not going to spare it for the likes of assholes that get in my way.' Everything about that Dragon Slayer just makes me want to turn tail and run until the soles of my feet are worn down to raw bone… Everything.

"Aside from the wall reconstruction, the only unusual thing is the guards posted outside an important-looking door on the ground level," Gajeel reports, his deep voice grating my eardrums like the sound of metal on metal. "If anything I'll bet that's where we want to start searching."

"Why do I have the sudden feeling that we'll be walking right into a trap?" I purposely hiss out loud, having fully intended to piss of the metal-headed freak.

"I get that you trust me just about as much as the space between your teeth," he shouts angrily at me, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt. "But so far as I know, you two need to be in and out of there quick as lightning, right? So that's why I'm here."

The air almost literally ripples with electricity as Grant stands up and puts a hand on Gajeel's arm that's holding me. The look in his eyes would put everyone in the Underworld, including the Devil himself, in their place.

"I know that iron doesn't usually conduct electricity," my boyfriend mutters threateningly as Gajeel sets me down and releases his grip on my shirt. "But I can make it happen. So, keep away from my girl unless you want to get the shock of your life."

Gajeel turns back to Celestial Blood, his expression now blank. I follow his gaze, suddenly getting the impression that our time to wait has just come to an abrupt stop. The members of the guild that had been steadily reconstructing the gaping breach in the wall were now filing in through the front doors. My body is screaming at me to fly in there, find Diana, and get her out of the before they can lay a hand on her.I try to move my feet, try to bring myself out of this trance, but nothing is working. I know this feeling well, though I've only experienced it once before now. It's the most powerful emotion to have control over your entire bod in both the physical and mental state of mind… Fear. It's not only the root of all nightmares, but also the cause of the majority of decisions made by any living creature in tight situations. Yet, it has one more irksome trick to play. If you can't come to a decision even with fear coursing through the highways of your brain, it will create a traffic jam, so to speak, and you'll find yourself temporarily paralyzed. Mind you, that's just my opinion of how it works. Giving up on trying to move my body, I opt to try my luck at verbal communication. My only success is a pathetic and helpless whimper, which luckily catches Grant's attention.

"You okay, Rosebud?" he asks worriedly, standing in front of me, his pupils shrinking considerably before he starts shouting inaudible words at me.

Why can't I hear what's going on around me anymore? I think to myself, my body still refusing to move. My question is more or less answered when I hear a faint female voice come into my ears. I don't even need to recognize it. I know exactly who it is. The only thing I can't make out is what she's saying. There's a minute of silence that's making me feel all the more anxious. Then, in the time span of two seconds, my heart takes off at an unbelievable pace, my knees buckle, and the bone-chilling sound in my ears matches the searing pain in the back of my left shoulder. Not a moment later, my hearing returns, yet I can't rid my head of the echo of my sister's scream to save my life. Both Grant and Gajeel are looking at me with obvious concern. They remain silent for a moment, and when they finally decide to break the silence, Gajeel is the first.

"Hey, Fairy," he snaps, waving a hand in front of my face. "You there?"

My eyes are looking straight through them, fixed on the location of my mortal enemy, and ultimately, the location of my little sister.

"Rose, are you okay?" Grant demands, his hands on my shoulders as he gives me a gentle shake.

"Diana…"

The name comes out as a strangled whimper, and neither Grant nor Gajeel need any further explanation to understand. However, they do take a few seconds longer to register the true urgency of the current situation. Without even realizing it, I bolt right past the two of them, making a direct beeline for the blackness of the open ocean water. I'm about to cast Wings of Freedom, but for whatever reason… I don't. What ends up happening is that I dive into the water and cast my Wings underwater. I know you're thinking I'm stupid for even trying, but trust me when I say that it actually works. The flames can't be seen, but their power is still there nonetheless. I focus on the location of the guild, picturing the distance through closed eyes in relation to the strength of Diana's aura. As soon as I have this information, I summon every shred of Fire-Make magic that I can, and a heartbeat later, I'm speeding towards Celestial Blood like a torpedo. I'm thankful that there's nothing that blocks my way, considering how much power this underwater flying forces me to spend, and the huge risk it implies for not only myself, but my sister as well. Once I reach the front doors of the malevolent guild, having all but completely exhausted my Fire-Make magic and my accomplices hot on my heels, I hesitate.

"I could be walking us all to our deaths," I whisper, a twinge of guilt passing through me as images of all the other Rogue Zodiacs start flashing before my eyes. "The fate of thirteen lives… All because I had to save my little sister."

"Rose, there are only twelve of us," Grant corrects me, a hint of curiosity in his voice, almost as though he was going to question what he believes to be an error on my part.

"Right, stupid mistake," I laugh nervously, shaking my head to clear my mind as I reach for the door handle. "I keep forgetting Gemini is one person, not two."

The three of us jump with a start when a high-pitched voice screams from somewhere within the guild, and I feel my heart shatter, spilling its contents of fear and rage. Such a massive amount of it, too. I only hear my little sister's second cry of anguish before my vision shrinks down to the size of a pinhole.

"Rose, help me!"

The world as I know it seems to change around me, when in reality… I did. Literally. Echoing the heartbreaking cry from Diana, I call out to her, waiting for her to reply as I sprint into the guild, taking out the guards posted at the door leading downstairs. It never comes. Taking a deep breath, I'm just about to call her name again when my eye catches on a dark figure reflected in a mirror. I whip my head in the mirror's direction, and I realize two things in doing this. The first is the answer to why Diana's not responding to me calling out for her, and the second… Well, let's just say that my chances of getting out of here without a scratch just multiplied exponentially. It's also ramped up how much I will ultimately enjoy mowing down hundreds of these pitiful dark wizards.


	6. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own any of the characters in Fairy Tail, all rights to those characters belong to Hiro Mashima. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.

* * *

My body is lithe and covered with a pitch black coat of silky-smooth fur, my eyes still their usual bright emerald green. The best part, without a single doubt, has to be the 4-foot tail and the razor sharp canines. That's right. I'm not imagining it, and you haven't heard me wrong. My entire physical body has been transformed into a majestic black panther. I watch in the mirror's reflection as Grant approaches me, fear coming off him in waves. He's doubting whether or not it's safe to confront me. When I rub my head against his leg, he tenses for a moment. After insistently nudging him, he gives me a few pats on the head. He explains after this that Gajeel stayed outside, should any guild members out on jobs happen to return while we're inside.

"Any final words before I finish you and then put your sister to the test?"

The deep - and quite aged - voice floats up to my heightened sense of hearing, most likely having come from downstairs. I'm absolutely certain it's the guild's current master. I can never remember his name off the top of my head, though. Not that it matters to me. To be frank, I could care less about _him_. What truly concerns me is when his successor will take over the position. Which could be very soon. His voice alone makes him sound like he's eighty years old, but taking one look at his snow white hair, his steadily wrinkling face, and his dulling gray eyes makes Master Makarov seem only a mere 25 years old. That's his general appearance. At least, since I last came face-to-face with the twisted old man. For all I know, he could have gone completely bald, lost a limb or something like that. Even the thought of him having one less limb for me to rip from his body makes me smile. The less I have to be around him, the better.

Keeping my ears pricked for any voices, I motion with my tail for Grant to follow me down the eerily lit staircase. Thankfully, we don't encounter any more opposition, and I say this for two reasons. Firstly; it means I have that much more energy and power to speed up this rescue mission, and secondly; I wouldn't have heard Diana's reply to Master Dragore's question. Yes, it took me this long to remember the name of the person responsible for the misery of all Celestial Spirits. His existence matters _sooo much_ to me - insert sarcasm here.

"Actually, I do have some last words to say," Diana chirps up, her voice filled with sudden confidence. "But first, let's take five."

Grant and I are the only other people of whom fully understand what my little sister means by _taking five_ , and with that knowledge set in our minds, we race down the steps and bolt across the room, skidding to a halt in front of her. Grant quickly puts up a shockingly powerful barrier around the three of us - hehe, get it? It will probably be much more time than I really need, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. After taking a moment to confirm that my love can hold his own, I turn to the vulnerable, kneeling, and quivering figure that is my invaluable little sister. Her wrists are locked in a pair of shackles that are bolted to the wall with the help of chains. At least they're long enough to let her sit down.

 _Rose, stop thinking like that, she's your own sister, for fuck's sake!_

Screwing up my courage, I look into Diana's wide, deep blue eyes. Her gaze is fixed on mine. Standing here in front of her, I feel my heart twisting in pain at the sight of her in such a helpless state. Hearing Master Dragore's amused laughter tears me from my daze and I whirl around to face him. I have to make sure to keep my cool and stay behind Grant's protective electric barrier. Just looking at him makes the fur on the back of my neck rise up in riveting disgust.

"Well it seems that taking a hostage was a wise idea after all," the wizened guild master chuckles. "Tell me, Diana," he muses, shifting his focus to her. "How does one domesticate a wild animal such as this?"

…

 _That's it, you old fart._

No sooner than he turns to give me a malicious, shit-eating grin from the other side of the barrier, I pounce at his wrinkling face, raking my claws from one side of his head to the other in a single swipe. I can't help but congratulate myself when I watch the blood start to pour out from both of his eyes. Or rather, what's left of them. Before he can call upon his forces to attack, I turn to my two comrades, flattening my ears and covering one of them with a paw, silently praying they read the message correctly. To my relief, it couldn't have been any clearer. As Grant blocks the receptors in his and Diana's ears, I take in as much air as my lungs will allow. The air shudders with the sheer volume of my deafening roar, and the windows immediately burst into millions of shards. While the dark wizards' ears are still ringing, making them disoriented, I rapidly heat the shackles binding Diana's wrists. Once the metal reaches the point where it's flexible enough-.

"Ice-Make Absolute Zero!"

The clash of the two temperature extremes causes the shackles to break, and the first thing my sister does is kneel in front of me and hug me tightly. The second thing she does… Let's just say I fully deserved it, and we'll leave it at that.

"This-," she snarls, giving my left shoulder a firm wallop. "Is for taking so damned long."

She pulls her hair around to the front, turning her head to reveal a scar an inch behind her ear. Whoever did this obviously took their sweet time with it, too. The end of the letter _R_ is linked to the letter _Z_. The lines where the skin had been broken were pretty thin, but because the blood had dried, it stood out so much more. She had been branded as a Rogue Zodiac, and judging by the swelling and depth, it's going to be permanent.

"We're goners, Rose."

The look of despair in her eyes is heart wrenching, and with it, my adrenaline fueled rage dissipates, which reverts me back to my human form. Kneeling here in front of my little sister, I see no trace of the assertive, commanding young woman whose eyes blazed with unknown depths of wisdom. The weight of our cause, and the twelve other lives for which I am responsible, has just now fallen so heavily upon the entirety of my being that I fail to notice Eric sneaking up behind me. In what felt like the blink of an eye, Eric slams me face down into the floor, and some of his guildmates restrain Grant and Diana. I try to flip over onto my back, but he's kneeling directly on my spine, and the soles of his shoes are pinning my wrists to the ground.

…

I was so focused on getting Diana out of here alive that I had carelessly forgotten the threat this whole guild poses to the existence of all Celestial Spirits. Hearing Grant and Diana struggling furiously against the wizards holding the, I have a sudden thought. Sure, it's not my best one, and there are more ways it could go wrong than I care to think about. But it will have to do. Putting up a mock struggle, I prepare myself for the one thing that goes against all of my instincts right now. Little did I know that in doing this, my plan would veer off on another tangent that would serve me all the better.

"You sure know how to put up a fight," Eric compliments, making me struggle even more. "No matter. I can give that a temporary _fix_!"

The young leader brings his fist down on my head with unexpected force, but I had sensed the shift in his weight and prepared myself accordingly. In response to the collision of his fist with the back of my head, I unintentionally let out all the air in my lungs in a scream of agony. The unfortunate part is that I couldn't force myself to take in another breath, no matter how hard I tried. The weight of his entire body was sitting directly overtop of my ribcage, and it was much too heavy for me to lift… Unless I wanted to break almost all of my ribs and die for real.

Oh yeah. I'm going there. But don't worry, I have Grant. If he was able to stop my heart with just one look and a few words, by the starry heavens he can start it again. My head is throbbing so badly. I can faintly hear Grant demanding me to wake up, his voice seeming to harmonize with Diana's-. Oh my. The words spewing from her mouth make me shudder in fear and also proud to have taught her well. Suddenly, just as a black curtain comes over my field of vision, the weight from my spine is lifted, and I frantically gulp in massive amounts of air. However, I feel Eric's knees move to pinning my shoulders, and one hand forcefully holds my head down.

"Eric, you fucking twisted prick!" Grant bellows, struggling against the burly dark wizard's steadfast grip. "You get that knife away from my woman!"

Just as he says this, I feel a sharp pain in the right side of my neck, behind my ear. I know what he's doing, and I know there's absolutely no way I can stop him. Let alone do I have the the strength for it. I can feel the sharpness of the blade, and despite my hatred of Eric, I find myself praising the care of his weaponry.

"You really take good care in sharpening your weapons," I compliment him, wincing as he begins the second letter.

"I may want your kind dead," he laughs, leaning in closer to my right ear once he finished the second letter. "But I want to watch your blood flow like rivers before me… Not have you be tortured to death by infected wounds because of a dull, blood-rusted knife."

He suddenly shifts his weight, and I get the momentary impression that he's finished, when a thought crosses my mind.

 _I'm the leader of my kind_ , I begin to think, but Eric finishes for me.

"... And every leader deserves to have some sort of _special_ recognition."

The next thing I know, the searing agony of hot metal being forcefully pressed against my skin radiates just beside the markings Eric had given me, and my nerves scream against the sensation. When the hot metal is removed, I feel my anger beginning to take over, and in the blink of an eye, it's lost… Lost in a tense silence that seems to crackle with electricity, only broken by Grant saying something I'd only heard from him once before.

"THAT'S IT, MOTHERFUCKER!"

He storms over to me, picks Eric up without any effort and turns on his heel, throwing the soon-to-be guild master at the opposing wall. When Eric slumps onto the floor, his nose bleeding from the impact against brick, my boyfriend stands protectively in front of me, his vest and braided-back hair luffing in the unseen waves of pulsing electricity surrounding him.

"It's showtime, bitches!" Grant snarls, the power around his body somehow reacting to his words, instantly encasing him in a glowing orb of light. He's exerting massive amounts of rage which entices me into my beast form. Looking back to where my sister was, I find myself staring in awe at the majestic form of a Bald Eagle. She lets out a piercing shriek, diving into the throng of Celestial Blood's ranks. In her wake, a trail of icy wind follows, freezing every enemy wizard she passes. She circles the room several times and then returns to where I'm standing, now back to my human form, looking at me with urgency in her piercing eyes. I quickly scan the room for Grant, who's standing over the motionless form of Master Dragore, holding a strange object in his hand. As I approach, he rapidly stuffs it away in his pocket and whispers gravely to me.

"You know what this means, don't you…?" he asks, turning his sad blue gaze to mine.

I give him a small nod, taking his hand and pulling him along, my heart hammering anxiously. Every one of my instincts is telling me to get out of this god-forsaken guild.

"Yes, I know. But we can deal with _that_ problem later. Right now, we need to get ourselves back to the guild… Alive."

With that, the three of us race upstairs, Diana flying ahead to take care of any enemy wizards that might be waiting as an ambush. Thankfully, our exit goes uninterrupted and we bolt out of the guild, Gajeel only giving us a questioning look before following us back to Fairy Tail.


End file.
